Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness

In 2009, Susannah Cahalan woke up in a strange hospital room strapped to a bed, under guard, and unable to move or speak. Her medical records - from a month-long hospital stay of which she had no memory - reported psychosis, violence, and dangerous instability. Yet, only weeks earlier she had been a healthy, ambitious twenty-four-year-old, six months into her first serious relationship and a sparkling career as a cub reporter

The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer

Written by cancer physician, researcher, and award-winning science writer Siddhartha Mukherjee, The Emperor of All Maladies is a stunning combination of medical history, cutting-edge science, and narrative journalism that transforms our understanding of cancer and much of the world around us. Mukherjee examines cancer with a cellular biologist's precision, a novelist's richness of detail, a historian's range, and a biographer's passion.

A Prayer for Owen Meany

Of all of John Irving's books, this is the one that lends itself best to audio. In print, Owen Meany's dialogue is set in capital letters; for this production, Irving himself selected Joe Barrett to deliver Meany's difficult voice as intended. In the summer of 1953, two 11-year-old boys – best friends – are playing in a Little League baseball game in Gravesend, New Hampshire. One of the boys hits a foul ball that kills the other boy's mother. The boy who hits the ball doesn't believe in accidents; Owen Meany believes he is God's instrument. What happens to Owen after that 1953 foul ball is extraordinary and terrifying.

I love John Irving. I have not read a bad John Irving book. I wish I had read this rather than listened to it for a very persnickety reason. The narration is basically good (good thing -- very long book). But good grief that squeaky nasally voice the narrator manages for Owen Meany. It kills me. It is just a little too authentic. It stays with you. I listened to this book a few years ago and I can still recall the squeaky voice.

Immortal Bird: A Family Memoir

Doron Weber delivers an affecting, unforgettable account of his struggle to protect his remarkable son. Born with a congenital heart defect, Damon Weber proves a source of constant inspiration to his parents even as his father Doron searches relentlessly for a breakthrough to resolve a condition that seems destined to claim Damon’s life. Living under this dire long-term prognosis, Damon nevertheless grows into a skilled actor - and an extraordinarily resilient human being.

Most noteworthy in other reviews is commentary that the dad seemed too enraged at the medical community for not being able to save his son--that the dad (Doron) basically went on a tirade about how everyone who touched his son screwed it up. Reviewers (some) seem angry at the father for being so angry at the medical establishment.

Externally focused anger might be tagging along with his extreme sense of loss, powerlessness, love, and a not-altogether misguided rage with the medical establishment. Although there are many individual care providers who are talented, competent, etc., they at some level have to separate themselves from the emotional aspects of their patients or they will not deliver the type of care that is needed. That's why doctors aren't supposed to treat their families.

Although the broken healthcare system has within it many a disgruntled and self-considered disenfranchised provider, I don't think the father was unreasonable. He would have been really irresponsible, given his education, means, etc. NOT to do everything he could to further his son's treatment, including what sounds like (but is not necessarily) bullying doctors into doing their jobs.

My Sister's Keeper

New York Times best-selling author Jodi Picoult is widely acclaimed for her keen insights into the hearts and minds of real people. Now she tells the emotionally riveting story of a family torn apart by conflicting needs and a passionate love that triumphs over human weakness.

The idea of having a child specifically to be an organ and tissue factory for another child is compelling if not new, but there was great (missed) opportunity here to explore more about what it means to be human in an age during which we can prolong life by very recently unimagined means. There are hints at this premise, and the book would not have been better with To Kill a Mockingbird style brain-clubbing metaphor, but something along the Hunger Games or Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs subtext would have worked well.

A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future

Lawyers. Accountants. Software Engineers. That what Mom and Dad encouraged us to become. They were wrong. Gone is the age of "left-brain" dominance. The future belongs to a different kind of person with a different kind of mind: designers, inventors, teachers, storytellers - creative and emphatic "right-brain" thinkers whose abilities mark the fault line between who gets ahead and who doesn't.

A Dog's Purpose: A Novel for Humans

After a tragically short life as a stray mutt, Bailey is surprised to find himself reborn as a rambunctious golden-haired puppy. Bailey's search for his new life's meaning leads him into the loving arms of eight-year-old Ethan. During their countless adventures, Bailey joyously discovers how to be a good dog. But this life as a beloved family pet is not the end of Bailey's journey. Reborn as a puppy yet again, Bailey wonders, will he ever find his purpose?

Lit: A Memoir

Lit follows Mary Karr's descent into the inferno of alcoholism and madness - and her astonishing resurrection. Karr's longing for a solid family seems secure when her marriage to a handsome, Shakespeare-quoting poet produces a son they adore. But she can't outrun her apocalyptic past. She drinks herself into the same numbness that nearly devoured her charismatic but troubled mother, reaching the brink of suicide. A hair-raising stint in "The Mental Marriott" awakens her to the possibility of joy, and leads her to an unlikely faith.

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